


Can't they take it

by 00FFFF



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Dread, Gen, Oneshot, Taskmaster - Freeform, and he is a TV SHOW HOST, crossover of the century, demise - Freeform, season 6, you see it WORKS because zedaph is a BRIT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22591231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/00FFFF/pseuds/00FFFF
Summary: Zedaph has been giving his fellow Hermits tasks for as long as he can remember. They enjoy completing them, and he greatly enjoys their creativity. Recently, however, the game has come to a halt. His most recent task has proven to be much grander than Zedaph could ever have anticipated.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	Can't they take it

Zedaph slumps back in his big, red chair.  
He flips through his notebook full of ideas for new tasks, tapping a pen rhythmically to the edge of the paper. He’s not stuck for ideas, oh no. On the contrary, he has too many! It’s just that... his last task has gone a bit... out of hand, so to say.

He loved coming up with tasks. He loved putting his friends’ creativity to the test; seeing what they could come up with when presented with a vague idea and a time limit. They never failed to surprise him, and it pleased him greatly.  
He’d had a rough start at the beginning of the season, but the Hermits have all since accepted it. The sight of the Taskmaster swooping in with a neatly folder letter brought joy to the participant’s faces. A new challenge; a new opportunity to win. Even developing some kind of competitiveness between them all as they worked to complete the tasks with bigger, better, and more outlandish ideas.

Take the time he tasked them to kill Tango, for example. It had grown into its own thing, complete with a jury and a scoring system. Or, when Halloween rolled around, Zedaph had dressed up for the occasion, voice changer and all. He’d tasked the hermits to get to zero health as fast as possible: Mumbo won by a landslide, nearly making Zedaph fall down from laughter, as well.

And it was all good. It was harmless fun, after all. Each week Zed would come up with different tasks, and different hermits to do them. He would assign them points behind the scenes, and at the end of each week, the hermit with the most points would win a decorative golden Zedaph head. He greatly enjoyed his place in the server, like a catalyst for creative and humorous outbursts, waiting to happen.

Nobody could complain, really. It was all fun and games.

Zedaph lets his eyes run down the list of ideas he has written down.

**_Task ideas_ **

> \- Dig the most stone from Tango's base > ‘Dig his Bits’
> 
> * Jingle the Jangler?
> 
> ○ build the highest building in New Hermitville
> 
> \- get to 0 health - ~~Rendog won~~ **_Mumbo wins!_**
> 
> \- hit as many other players with snowballs as you can ○○○○
> 
> \- kill tango: 'How to Kill a Tango' :D
> 
> \- Fly through as many hoops as possible _(the birth of Grian's Elytra course! Very Impressed!!!)_
> 
> _\- Dye as many sheep as possible. You have one minute._
> 
> \- get through this parkour course * _(2 attempts)_
> 
> \- Destroy this cake _→ Remember to bake enough for all the hermits!_
> 
> \- kill a creeper without a weapon
> 
> \- Do something surprising
> 
> ○ bring the taskmaster the weirdest item you can think of
> 
> ○ what does ‘RGB’ stand for? ~~Rapidly Grab B…~~
> 
> \- pitch a sale
> 
> farm? best farm? most outlandish farm?
> 
> ○ Hide as much quartz and warts in your shorts
> 
> \- the most unnecessarily convoluted redstone contraption
> 
> **IDEA** : Something with invisibility potions? Ghosts???
> 
> \+ Most phantoms killed wins _> Cub took it to a whole new level :O_
> 
> \- glide the furthest distance _(winner: iskall in his nether tunnel)_
> 
> \- create a theme tune
> 
> \- Create the best minigame in the new district.
> 
> ○ the spookiest halloween costume
> 
> \- Demise?
> 
> …..

Zed scribbles absentmindedly in the marges. He isn’t really trying to come up with new ideas at the moment. Right now he’s trying to figure out how to get the hermits to _stop_ playing.

He eyes the letter laying on his desk. It’s the task that still hasn’t come to an end yet, its seal broken. The paper is wrinkled, yellow, and dusty, but the bold letters are clear as day.

> **Task #141**
> 
> _Type: Multiplayer_
> 
> **Don’t die.**
> 
> **You have until all but one Hermit has been demised. The Hermit who remains alive wins.**
> 
> **Your time starts now.**

  
  
  


Zed stares at the accursed letter. If only he had sharpened the rules. If only he had thought it through more. It had been so simple. It seemed like such a good idea when he came up with it. “Don’t die.” Simple as that. But they'd taken it to a whole new level.  
Zedaph scratches with his pen onto the paper in exasperation. 

While it was never stated in the rules that sabotage wasn't allowed (he really didn't have any rules written down in the first place, honestly), the hermits grew impatient. The Demised would set traps, trying to take other players down, with them. Zedaph had enjoyed this development, until he got caught up in the middle of it. Being hit by a falling anvil didn’t feel too good. Not at all.

The players were eager to move on from this task already, and Zedaph wanted to move on, too. He had so many ideas. So many plans. But they were still playing, and he was still waiting. The entire server on a halt. The shopping district felt like a ghost town, only much more dangerous, and much more deadly. Zedaph wanted to go back to the fun, lighthearted good times where developments in the game resulted in tears of joy and laughter. Where they didn’t cause harm or hurt any bystanders.

It has been over two months, now. Needless to say, this game has begun to live a life of its own. He no longer has any control over it. He wonders if he ever had control over it at all. Zedaph sighs as he curls in on himself in his chair.

It was all fun and games... right?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Let me know if you enjoyed this little idea! I certainly enjoyed writing it, especially coming up with all the ‘tasks’ that Zedaph would have been the mastermind behind.
> 
> Title from ‘Turn the Lights Off’ by Tally Hall. No I will Not get sick of trying to match the lyrics to my fics.


End file.
